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Wetland transfer is not best option

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The Dispatch.

I respond to the March 6
Dispatch article “Suit filed to block swap of Sawmill preserve,” regarding the Ohio
Environmental Council’s legal action to stop the transfer of the Sawmill wetland. I was lucky
enough recently to visit the property, where, by my count, more than 200 residents were
present.

The property is quite a gem. I’m told it is one of only 14 high-quality wetlands remaining
within the I-270 corridor.

I gazed away from the wetland and toward the vacant Circuit City lot just to the west and
wondered why the state would allow Sawmill to be bulldozed when there is a perfectly suitable
substitute, and vacant, property right next door.

Instead of being destroyed, the Sawmill property should be transferred to Columbus Recreation
and Parks; the city has stated explicitly that it would like to have it.

With this in mind, I hope the court will take a hard look at this case and reach the conclusion
that a rare ecosystem that, in the right hands, has the potential to be a phenomenal community
asset and should not be destroyed to suit the whims of a developer or apathetic state agency.

If the court does not make this determination, every valuable wetland property that has been set
aside for preservation in Ohio could be in jeopardy.

- ROBERT KYLE

Gahanna

Thanks, Bob Evans, for your humanity

As an animal lover, I was saddened to learn about how inhumanely breeding pigs are raised in
small “gestation crates,” which are barely larger than their own bodies.

But I was inspired to learn about how Bob Evans is working to change this by committing to
buying pork only from farmers that don't use the cruel crates (“Bob Evans Farms to pork suppliers:
Give pregnant pigs enough room,”
Dispatch, Bottom Line blog, March 13).

The fact that, each year, millions of pigs are crammed into these crates shows how far we need
to go in improving animal welfare in our society, and how we all need to support the work being
done to improve the lives of farm animals. Ending their extreme confinement seems like the best
place to start.

Thankfully Bob Evans, dozens of other companies and nine U.S. states are doing just that.